Community Advisors

Forming & Fabricating Community

Charles L. Caristan, PhD, is an international fellow with Air Liquide. Over a 20-year career in metal fabrication with industrial lasers, he has accumulated deep technical and market knowledge, expertise and experience in a rare blend of fields such as lasers, optics, laser material processing, gas dynamics, metal heat treatment, metal stamping and automotive assembly in high-volume production manufacturing environment. Prior to joining Air Liquide in Houston in 2002, Caristan was director of manufacturing with Thyssen / TWB in Detroit, a manufacturer of laser-welded tailor blanks, and a business development manager for laser products for GE Fanuc in Cincinnati. He is the inventor of several patents on laser material processing, laser resonator and optics. Caristan has more than 40 publications in scientific and engineering conference proceedings as well as in trade magazines. He is the author of a 447-page book "Laser Cutting Guide for Manufacturing," published by SME in 2003. Most recently, Caristan authored the "Laser Cutting, Drilling & Shock Peening" chapter of the new "ASM Handbook," 2011 edition. Caristan graduated in 1989 with a PhD in atoms, molecules and laser physics from the University of Paris and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University. Member Since 1993

Jon Brouwer is a a CAE leader, senior engineer for MB Tech Autodie LLC. Previously, he was a senior CAE engineer for Autodie LLC. Brouwer graduated from GMI Engineering & Management Institute with a BS in mechanical engineering and a cognate specialty in manufacturing product design. His fields of expertise include FEA sheet metalforming simulations, draw die developments using 3-D solid modeling, advanced high-strength steel research, metallurgy, sheet metal springback and die processing. Brouwer has authored and coauthored numerous papers and publications, and given various presentations at different conferences across North America. He currently chairs the Metalforming Simulation Tech Group and is working on his lean bronze certification. Brouwer is also a provisional member of the North American Deep Draw Research Group. Member Since 2004

Gary Gathen is a journeyman diemaker and journeyman die designer with a mechanical engineering degree from General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, who majored in manufacturing processes and tooling. He started in the tooling industry in 1952, working in his family’s tool and die and stamping companies, eventually rising to president of both. Gathen is active in SME activities such as the Lean Manufacturing Blitz Week, chair of the former Lean Tool & Die Making Tech Group and seminar presenter at FABTECH in the area of lean for tool and diemaking. He is chief technology officer at G Corp, an international consulting and manufacturers’ representative firm. Gathen’s numerous lean tool and die making articles have appeared in several trade magazines. Member Since 1985

Eric Kam, product manager, AutoForm Engineering GmbH, has been active in the forming and fabricating community providing training, consulting and leadership since 1994. Sheet metal stamping design, formability, press engineering and maintenance, tool and die fundamentals, die processing and layout, and simulation experience has brought him to numerous automotive OEM, Tier 1 suppliers, aerospace and materials suppliers, both domestic and globally. Kam is the former chair of the F&F Community and current co-chair of the Stamping & Dies Tech Group. Member Since 1998

Elsayed A Orady, PhD, joined The University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1986, and is currently the professor of manufacturing and coordinator of the manufacturing engineering program. Orady has written and won several grants from industry, the National Science Foundation and professional organizations, including SME. His current research interests and activities are in machine tools, metrology and precision measurements, machining processes and process simulation, tool monitoring and process diagnostics, process automation, manufacturing systems integration, rapid prototyping, virtual reality and robot simulation. Orady has years of experience in teaching and conducting research in the manufacturing fields at several universities including Cairo University, Egypt; King Saud University, Saudi Arabia; University Technology, Malaysia; and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He has more than 90 publications in topics related to the manufacturing field and has written several chapters in books, including a chapter in the SME's "Tool Design Handbook." Orady has supervised or co-supervised more than 24 master's theses and two PhD theses. He is the advisor for SME’s student chapter, University of Michigan-Dearborn S326. Member Since 1985

Brianne Roebuck is a fourth-year student at Kent State University. In 2012, she graduated with an AAS in mechanical engineering technology and is planning to graduate with a BSET in integrated engineering technology in May 2014. Roebuck has informally worked in her father's business, North Richmond Machining and Fabricating, for most of her life — where she has gained experience in custom machining, fabricating, process design and customer relations. Roebuck plans to work for the family business full time after graduation and help the company expand into stamping production. Her father also will give her the opportunity to transform the business into a woman-owned and lead manufacturer within the next five years. Roebuck is also the current co-chair of the Stamping & Dies Tech Group. Member Since 2010.